History[]

Prior to establishing the permanent select committee in 1977, the House of Representatives established the "Select Committee on Intelligence", commonly referred to as the "Pike Committee", so named after its last chairman, Otis G. Pike of New York. The select committee had originally been established in February 1975 under the chairmanship of Congressman Lucien Nedzi of Michigan. Following Nedzi's resignation in June, the committee was reconstituted with Pike as chair, in July 1975, with its mandate expiring January 31, 1976. Under Pike's chairmanship, the committee investigated illegal activities by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The final report of the Pike Committee was never officially published, due to Congressional opposition. However, unauthorized versions of the draft final report were leaked to the press. CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr was called to testify before Congress, but refused to divulge his source.[1] Major portions of the report were published by The Village Voice, and a full copy of the draft was published in England.

In 2017, the committee was tasked along with the SSCI to determine the degree of Russian interference in 2016 US elections.[3] The committee has also been investigating allegations of wiretapping of President Donald Trump, as well as ties between Russian officials and members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[4][5] The committee came under intense scrutiny in 2017-2018 due to allegations of partisanship and leaks of classified information by members of the committee and their staff. In March 2018, the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections was abruptly ended by the committee's Republican members despite the assertion by Democratic members that the investigation was incomplete and had failed to gather pertinent information. Notably, House Intelligence Republicans released a draft of their investigatory report which contradicted some findings of the U.S. Intelligence Community and was written without the input of House Democrats.[6][7] In the wake of bitter disagreement about the committee's findings, Republican committee member Tom Rooney claimed that the committee had "lost all credibility" and had become "a political forum for people to leak information to drive the day's news."[8] In July 2018, the chair of the committee, Representative Devin Nunes, accused the Department of Justice, and its Federal Bureau of Investigations, of "stonewalling" the committee's investigation and taking partisan sides with regard to its Russia investigation.[9]